If you are commissioning a drone survey for the first time, the rules can look like alphabet soup. The good news is that the questions a buyer needs to ask are few, and a competent operator will answer them without being prompted. This is the plain-English version, current for 2026.
Two registrations, two roles
Every commercial drone flight in the UK involves two things that are easy to confuse.
The operator is the organisation or person responsible for the aircraft. They hold the Operator ID, which is printed on the drone, and any authorisation to fly beyond the basic rules. The remote pilot is the person flying. They hold a Flyer ID and, for anything beyond hobby flying near people, a competency certificate.
A sole trader is usually both. A larger provider may be the operator and employ or contract several pilots. If a survey company subcontracts flying, the pilot may be flying under their own operator registration rather than the survey company's. Neither arrangement is wrong, but the report should say which it is.
Class marks: what changed in January 2026
From 1 January 2026, new drone models placed on the UK market must carry a class mark, UK0 through UK6, confirming they meet technical standards for weight, remote identification, geo-awareness and flight modes. A drone with a European C class mark may be flown as the equivalent UK class until the end of 2027.
The class mark decides which subcategory the aircraft may be flown in, and therefore how close to people and buildings it may go. For roof surveys that is the whole game, because a roof is by definition close to a building and often close to people.
Twenty to fifty roofs on one estate, flown to a standard shot list, reviewed by a named person, delivered as component rows your asset system can import.
The Open category: where most roof work happens
The Open category is for lower-risk flying with no specific authorisation. It has three subcategories.
A1 is for the lightest aircraft, under 250 grams, and allows flight over people incidentally but not over crowds. Sub-250 gram drones produce good imagery and are widely used for single-property work.
A2 is the workhorse for residential surveys. With a C2-class aircraft and an A2 Certificate of Competency, a pilot may fly down to 30 metres horizontally from uninvolved people, or 5 metres in low-speed mode. That is enough to work a terrace from the pavement without asking residents to go indoors.
A3 is for heavier aircraft well away from people and buildings, at least 150 metres from residential areas. Not relevant to roofs.
The Specific category: when Open is not enough
Some roof work cannot be done within Open category limits. Dense blocks where 30 metres from uninvolved people is not achievable, flights near certain airspace, or heavier aircraft with better sensors all push work into the Specific category, which requires an Operational Authorisation from the CAA.
The authorisation is held by the operator and sets out the conditions under which its flights may be conducted. It is supported by an operations manual and by pilot competency. For many years the competency route was the General Visual Line of Sight Certificate, the GVC. That is now a legacy certificate, replaced by the RPC-L1 under the newer Remote Pilot Certificate framework, although a GVC remains valid evidence of competency through the transition.
If a provider says they hold an Operational Authorisation, the useful follow-up is: in whose name, and does it cover this site?
Insurance and the things nobody mentions
Commercial drone operations must carry insurance that meets the relevant regulation. Buyers typically ask for public liability cover, with five million pounds a common expectation from housing providers and local authorities and higher from some. If the provider also gives a condition opinion, rather than evidence, professional indemnity cover becomes relevant too.
Two other items are worth asking about because they are frequently missed.
Data protection. Roof imagery of occupied homes captures gardens, windows and sometimes people. The operator should be able to describe how they minimise that, what happens to frames that show neighbours, and how long imagery is kept. For social landlords a data protection impact assessment is normal practice.
Resident notice. Nobody enjoys looking up to find a drone over their garden. A short notice through doors the week before, explaining what, when and why, prevents complaints and reduces the number of people who come out to watch, which itself keeps the flight inside the distance rules.
Five questions to ask before the flight
- Who is the operator of record, and what is the Operator ID?
- Which category will this site be flown in, Open A2 or Specific, and if Specific, whose Operational Authorisation covers it?
- What competency does the pilot hold: A2 CofC, GVC or RPC-L1?
- What public liability cover is in place, and can you send the certificate?
- How do you handle imagery of neighbouring property and people, and how long do you keep it?
A provider who answers all five in writing is one you can put in front of a procurement team. The answers should also appear on the cover of the report for each flight, because a survey's value as evidence depends on being able to show, later, that it was done properly.